Free Mick Sinatra 4: If You Don't Know Me by Now by Mallory Monroe Page A

the lady and his opponent will not come forward before the
election.   We will, in fact, force his
opponent to drop out of the race.”
    “That’s a
tall order, Pop ,” Teddy said.   “That will require a lot of forcing.”
    Mick looked
at Teddy.   “You can do it,” he said with
total confidence.
    Teddy felt
that confidence.   It was contagious.   “And all the mayor will have to do is install
one of our guys in as chief?”
    “As chief,
and as commissioner.   If you’re going to
play in the market, you have to corner it.   We need both, or no deal.   The
commissioner can overrule the chief.   We
have to have both.”
    Teddy
smiled.   Ruthless didn’t begin to
describe his father.   “Yes, sir,” he
said.
    Mick’s cell
phone began ringing.
    “I’ll get
right on it,” Teddy added.
    “And Teddy,”
Mick said, as he pulled his phone from out of his pocket and looked at the
Caller ID.
    “Yes, sir?”
    “Barge in my
office again and I’ll kick your ass.”
    Teddy wasn’t
sure if his father was serious or playing.   But he felt playful.   “Yes, sir,”
he said, and left.
    “Hey, babe,”
Mick said as he answered the phone.
    Roz was back
at her agency sitting behind her desk.   She turned toward her window that overlooked a series of construction
sites in the desolate area where her office had been built.     It was a call she was fretting, but a call
she knew she had to make.   “Hey,” she
said into her own cell phone.
    “What’s up?”
Mick asked.
    “I’m going
to take a drive to New York.”
    Mick
hesitated.   What the fuck?   “Nope,” he said.
    “I’ll fly
then.   Tell your pilot I want to leave
this afternoon.”
    “Why are you
going to New York?”
    Roz braced
herself.   “I need to visit a sick
friend.”
    “What friend?”
    Roz
exhaled.   “Betsy,” she said.
    “Forget it,
Rosalind.”
    “Mick, she’s
in trouble.   This is vital.   She might not pull through.”
    Mick closed
his eyes.   He was sorry to hear that, he
really was.   But his wife wasn’t going
anywhere near that craziness.   “You can’t
go.   You can pray for her, you can wish
her well, you can even speak to her over the phone.   But you are not going anywhere near her.”
    “But I have
to go!”
    This angered
Mick.   “You don’t have to do shit but
what I tell you to do!   And you are not
going anywhere near that female and her dangerous lifestyle.”
    “ Dangerous ?   Mick, that’s ridiculous!”
    “Ridiculous?   Why is she sick, Rosalind?   Why is she fighting for her life?”
    Roz didn’t
answer.
    “You tell me
why,” Mick demanded.
    “Because a
guy beat her up.”
    “Dangerous.   Just as I said.”
    “But that’s
beside the point!   I’m not going to let
her die alone.   I’m all she has.”
    “She wasn’t
worried about you when she was putting you in constant danger.   You was all she had then and she didn’t give
a fuck.   So fuck her.”
    Roz was
angry now.   “Don’t you speak about her
like that!   She’s still my best friend.   Was
she a perfect friend?   No.   Was I a perfect friend to her?   Hell no!   But I still love and care about her, Mick.   And I will not let her die alone.   I’m going to New York.   I’ll drive if I have to, I’ll catch a got damn bus if I have to.   But I’m going.   I should be back before you leave for Spain
tonight.   You just take care of our
children until I get back.   Because I
will be going, whether you like it or not!”
    And on that
note, Roz slammed down the phone.
    She almost
picked it back up, because she knew Mick was going to kill her for talking to
him that way.   But she didn’t.   Betsy was her friend.   Betsy was in dire straits.   She was going to see about her.

 
    That
confidence, however, became gravely tested when an enraged Mick Sinatra, not
half an hour later, walked through the doors of her bustling agency.  
     

 
 
 
 
 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 
    The